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In the other, titles sounded optimistic, almost Panglossian.

But Mr. Clinton’s was not an isolated Panglossian view in the West in the decade after Mr. Gorbachev’s actions led to the end of the Cold War and the end of the Soviet Union.

Elghanian’s letters reveal a lonely man still trying to oversee his businesses and family affairs as the old regime collapses, clinging to a Panglossian belief that things will be all right.

Must we accept the Panglossian notion that the conventional slow grind of justice is the best of all possible systems?

With fingers crossed and a Panglossian belief that this can be the best of all possible theater worlds, here is my cautious curation of what will be worthwhile in a maybe-this-time season.